While only the latter half of this post will be of interest to my readers – it’s a schedule of who reviews what when – ALL of this post is relevant to my review partners! So pleeeeeease read this next part, OK? I have a feeling that I’ll probably end up sending links to this post over and over again throughout the series, but I thought it would be helpful to have it all here in one place.

Oh! One more thing, before I begin! You can find details about all the episodes here – quotes, storylines, info about writers and directors, et cetera. I didn’t see any point in copying and pasting all that info to this post, so check it out!

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Things You Should Know If You Have Signed Up To Review With Me

1. When it’s your turn to review, watch with a critical eye! I don’t mean that you should heap criticism on every single little thing in the episode. (I mean, unless you think it deserves it!) Rather, I’m talking about analyzing the episode as you watch it. You don’t need to, like, take notes or anything… but during the episode, think about what you’ll say in your review: What did you like? What did you not like? What made you laugh? What surprised you? What did you think of the character development? (Was there any?!) Were there any tropes that you found particularly lovable or offputting? Et cetera!

2. Going off of the point above, if you have any ideas about what we should talk about in our review(s), let me know! DON’T BE SHY. And definitely don’t feel like you’re being bossy! It is so helpful when my review partners send me ideas for discussion without any prompting or nagging! So if you’re thinking, “hey, can we talk about the relationship between _____ and _____ in this episode?” or “can we make a top ten list?” or whatever, speak up!

3. We can write the reviews via email, Facebook Messenger, or Google Docs… let me know what works for you!

4. I would prefer this batch of reviews to be shorter than last year’s… because I’m in college now and I don’t have as much time to write! I’m not going to enforce any hard-and-fast rules about word length, but anywhere from 300 to about 800 words is probably a good idea. (I should clarify: Your part of the review, not the entire thing, should be 300 to 800 words.)

5. And on that note, I may not include everything you send me if I think it’s not critical to the rest of our discussion! (So, like… if 3/4 of what you send me is about one thing and the rest of your thoughts are unrelated, I’m probably going to cut the unrelated stuff.)

6. Don’t be afraid to disagree with my opinion!

7. Try to be prompt. After you send your stuff, I need to reply, ask any follow-up questions if necessary, edit, proofread, and format the whole thing! Don’t freak out or anything, but do try to send me your bits of the review within a few days after the episode has aired. Send me whatever you have – don’t worry about making it perfect!

8. Film scores and diversity are two of my passions! So, you know, if you feel like bringing them up during a review… GO FOR IT. We could write an entire review about how a particular episode failed or succeeded at diversity, TBH. (I think this would be much harder to do with the film score, but hey – if you have, like, some brilliant plan to talk about how the music tells a story… YOU SHOULD ALSO GO FOR IT.) Feel free to talk about how women, queer characters, people of color, disabled characters, et cetera are treated within the stories! Feel free to talk about your headcanons!

9. Last year I asked all my collaborators to write a little bio of themselves to include with the review, and I would like you to do that this year as well, following the same format: Write one or two sentences about who you are! (Interests, hobbies, occupation, et cetera.) Also, please include a biographical sentence that is related to Doctor Who in some way! (“One time I hid behind the couch because Daleks” is totally acceptable.) This was a fun addition last year, so I thought I’d continue it! (Also? If you need help with any of this, there are tons of examples in last year’s reviews aaaand you can always ask me for help.)

THIS IS LIKE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER

If at any time within the next few months you are unable to review for any reason – whether because you’re busy, suddenly don’t have any way to watch the episode you signed up for, or just plain changed your mind about reviewing – then please let me know ASAP. I won’t be mad! LIFE HAPPENS, PEOPLES. So don’t feel bad about it – just give me some advance notice so I can arrange for someone to take your place!

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1 & 2“The Magician’s Apprentice” & “The Witch’s Familiar”

The first episode aired on September 19th and the second airs on the 26th.

11 & 12“Heaven Sent”& “Hell Bent”

To those who reviewed last year: Welcome back! And to the new people – Micha, Appletaile, and Charley – I hope you have fun with this! And to EVERYONE: I can’t wait to A) watch this new series of Doctor Who and B) find out your thoughts about each episode!

P.S. You’ll notice that I didn’t mention the Christmas special… I have some people in mind for it, but nothing has been decided for sure yet! It’ll probably end up being one of the bloggers I asked about reviewing these episodes, but who hasn’t responded yet, because I know they’ll probably be like OMG WAIT WHAT SORRY I’M LATE CAN I REVIEW THE CHRISTMAS SPECIAL. And the answer is yes.

I have discovered that I actually CAN watch Season Nine…but not until a day or two afterwards. *sighs* I am soooo looking forward to the reviews, though, as they all seem like they’re gonna be awesome!!!
On a side note: I watched about half of Dark Water last night. UGH CLARA. I understand many people’s dislike of her now. -_-

Yay!
…actually, if anyone is unable to review, would you like to be my back-up reviewer? 😀 I can’t guarantee that you will end up reviewing, but people do sometimes have to drop out… It wouldn’t matter that you can’t watch the episodes until a few days later – I don’t need the reviews right away!

Apart from the actual episodes themselves, your reviews were the things I looked forward to most last season! 🙂 I’m so excited to read them again this year. And if someone ends up having to back out, definitely put me on your list of people available to fill in.